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DOE Announces First ‘HPC for Manufacturing’ Industry Partnerships

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today (Feb. 17, 2016) announced $3 million for 10 new projects that will enable private-sector companies to use high-performance computing resources at DOE's national laboratories to tackle major manufacturing challenges. The awards are part of DOE’s High-Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) program, which was rolled out last year.

The announcement was made by David Danielson, assistant secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), during an online media event hosted at Berkeley Lab. Also on hand were Mark Johnson, director of the DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, which created and sponsors the HPC4mfg program; Mark D’Evelyn, vice president of bulk technology at Soraa, which has been collaborating with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to develop a high quality crystal growth model for the gallium nitride reactor to create more efficient lighting; and representatives from LLNL, Berkeley Lab and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which are partnering to lead and support the project.

Berkeley Lab will work with GLOBALFOUNDRIES to optimize the design of transistors under a project entitled “Computation Design and Optimization of Ultra-Low Power Device Architectures.” Other new HPC4Mfg projects range from improving turbine blades in aircraft engines and cutting heat loss in electronics to reducing waste in paper manufacturing and improving fiberglass production. Each of the projects will receive approximately $300,000 to fund the national labs to partner closely with each chosen company to provide expertise and access to HPC systems aimed at high-impact challenges.

"Access to supercomputers in the DOE’s labs will provide a resource to American firms inventing and building clean energy technologies right here at home that no international competitor can match," said Assistant Secretary Danielson. "The HPC4Mfg initiative pairs leading clean energy technology companies with the world-class computing tools and expertise at our national labs to drive down the cost of materials and streamline manufacturing processes. The ultimate goal of their collaboration is to increase our global competitiveness in the race to develop clean energy technology and jobs."

Under the HPC4Mfg program, the 10 selected projects will leverage the national labs' high-performance computing capabilities to apply modeling, simulation, and data analysis to industrial products and processes to lower production costs and shorten the time it takes to bring new clean energy technologies to market.

“While HPC technology is critical to competitiveness and many large companies have recognized this and invested in it, it is very difficult for small companies to access the technology and use it effectively,” said Horst Simon, deputy director of Berkeley Lab. “Access to HPC will give these companies an edge in the international competition for the clean manufacturing capabilities of the future. DOE and its network of national labs have invested billions in hardware capabilities and developed the expertise to harness HPC. The HPC4Mfg initiative is an ideal way to make the unique capability of labs’ technology and expertise available to U.S. industry to increase their competitiveness.”

Here are the Phase I projects:

GLOBALFOUNDRIES will collaborate with LBNL to optimize the design of transistors under a project entitled: “Computation Design and Optimization of Ultra-Low Power Device Architectures.”

The Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow Consortium in Michigan will partner with LLNL to develop, implement and validate a defect physics-based model to predict mechanical properties of Al-Li forged alloy, under a project entitled: “Integrated Computational Materials Engineering Tools for Optimizing Strength of Forged Al-Li Turbine Blades for Aircraft Engines.”

ZoomEssence, Inc. of Kentucky will partner with LLNL to optimize the design of a new food drying method using HPC simulations of dryer physics, under a project entitled: “High Performance Computing Analysis for Energy Reduction of Industry Spray Drying Technology.”

United Technologies Research Center, located in East Hartford, Connecticut, will partner with ORNL and LLNL to develop and deploy simulation tools that predict the material microstructure during the additive manufacturing process to ensure that critical aircraft parts meet design specifications for strength and fatigue resistance, under a project entitled: “Integrated Predictive Tools for Customizing Microstructure and Material Properties of Additively Manufactured Aerospace Components.”

Procter & Gamble of Ohio will partner with LLNL to reduce paper pulp in products by 20 percent, which could result in significant cost and energy savings in one of the most energy intensive industries, under a project entitled: “Highly-Scalable Multi-Scale FEA Simulation for Efficient Paper Fiber Structure.”

General Electric (GE), New York, will partner with ORNL to assist in the local control of melt pool and microstructure in additive manufactured parts, under a project entitled: “Process Map for Tailoring Microstructure in Laser Powder Bed Fusion Manufacturing (LPBFAM) Process.”

In a separate project, GE will partner with ORNL and LLNL to improve the efficiency and component life of aircraft engines through design optimization, under a project entitled: “Massively Parallel Multi-Physics Multi-Scale Large Eddy Simulations of a Fully Integrated Aircraft Engine Combustor and High Pressure Vane.”

In a separate project, PPG Industries, Inc. of Pennsylvania will partner with LLNL to develop a reduced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a glass furnace to make informed line adjustments in hours in near real-time, under the title: “Development of Reduced Glass Furnace Model to Optimize Process Operation.”

The AweSim program at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) and the Edison Welding Institute (EWI) will partner with ORNL to deploy cloud-based advanced welding simulation tool for broad industry use, under a project entitled: “Weld Predictor App.”

About Computing Sciences at Berkeley Lab

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) Computing Sciences organization provides the computing and networking resources and expertise critical to advancing the Department of Energy's research missions: developing new energy sources, improving energy efficiency, developing new materials and increasing our understanding of ourselves, our world and our universe.

ESnet, the Energy Sciences Network, provides the high-bandwidth, reliable connections that link scientists at 40 DOE research sites to each other and to experimental facilities and supercomputing centers around the country. The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) powers the discoveries of 6,000 scientists at national laboratories and universities, including those at Berkeley Lab's Computational Research Division (CRD). CRD conducts research and development in mathematical modeling and simulation, algorithm design, data storage, management and analysis, computer system architecture and high-performance software implementation. NERSC and ESnet are DOE Office of Science User Facilities.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the DOE’s Office of Science.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.